Sardinia, Abruzzo, Bolzano, Emilia-Romagna, Marche, Tuscany, Puglia and Valle d'Aosta.

There are also eight Italians among the 111 regions of the European Union who in recent days have raised - in a letter to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, - their concerns about the future of the EU Cohesion Policy, all a few days before the European elections.

"At a time when citizens' mistrust towards Europe could be forcefully expressed at the polls, we must strengthen the most visible policies in the territories and cohesion policy is certainly one of these", reads the letter signed by the territories of 15 EU member states and also addressed to the commissioner responsible for Cohesion, Elisa Ferreira, to the commissioner for Labour, Nicolas Schmit, and for the Budget, Johannes Hahn.

Not ignoring the need to make it "evolve", the signatories urge to maintain a cohesion policy "available to all regions", assigning territories "a primary role in the planning and implementation process, through shared management and multilevel governance" .

In contrast, therefore, with a "centralized approach" similar to that of the Recovery Fund which "does not allow it.

What is also essential is " a budget that corresponds to the long-term investment approach of cohesion policy ", as well as a strengthened dialogue between the European Commission and the European regions to improve the implementation of the post-2027 policy.

In this sense, the signatory regions propose the appointment of a new vice president of the Commission "responsible for economic, social and territorial cohesion".

(Unioneonline/lf)